Prophecy Dragonet
by themoonlightdragon
Summary: Glory didn't ask to be taken from her rainforest home. It's not her fault she's not the SkyWing the prophecy called for. But whether it was her choice or not, she's the fifth prophecy dragonet, and everyone else under the mountain is going to have to deal with it.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One**

A furiously red-gold SkyWing violently shook a young dragon awake. "Are you STILL sleeping, Clay?" she roared. The little brown MudWing sat up sleepily. "Even the RainWing is awake!"

Glory clamped down on her emotions before traces of hurt could spread through her scales. Meanwhile, Clay had been wrenched fully awake. "Glory's NOT lazy!" He said hotly, tromping over to the corner where the other four dragonets were studying for their history test.

"Yeah," Sunny chimed in in agreement, giving Glory a squeeze. Glory shook it off, and the little SandWing's oddly colored golden wings drooped.

"I do not need you to fight my battles for me," Glory growled. Her scales prickled from the hug. Glory didn't like being touched.

"RainWings don't need to fight battles," Kestrel snorted, "They're too lazy."

"They are NOT!" Clay and Sunny clamored in unison. Glory glared at them and they abruptly quit it. The last thing she needed was Kestrel thinking she was too lazy to stand up for herself.

"Your scales are changing," observed Starflight, who until now had been slumping in the shadows of the corners. "Crimson- does that mean annoyed? Oh, or angry!" Glory snarled at him, and the pale NightWing leaned back into the shadows once again. The aquamarine dragon next to him rolled her eyes.

"This is pathetic!" Kestrel barked. "I should have gone back to the Sky Kingdom and gotten a real SkyWing. Out of all the tribes, Webs had to choose RainWings..." she stopped her rant to narrow her eyes at the thin emerald dragon. "Now get to work!" Kestrel ducked out of the dragonets' cave and Starflight returned to studying.

Glory looked down at her scroll. Suddenly reading about NightWing atatomy didn't seem as interesting now. "What about breakfast?" Clay asked, his stomach rumbling loudly.

"You missed breakfast, Clay," Sunny giggled, "You were sleeping, remember?"

Clay's amber wings drooped. "I never get anything to eat. This is boring. I need a break."

"You just started," Starflight pointed out, the silver scales on the undersides of his wings glittering. "How could you possibly need a break already?"

"You could jump in the river," Tsunami suggested helpfully. The other dragonets groaned. Tsunami's solution for everything was "jump in the river". Glory hated the cold water of the river. It was icy and frigid and the rocks on the bottom scraped at her talons.

"Too cold!" Clay immediately said, protectively curling his wings around his body.

"If you're hungry, I have an extra lizard," Sunny suddenly remembered, flouncing over to her sleeping ledge and snatching up the pale green lizard. She handed it to Clay, who swallowed it in one gulp.

"Thnkyoo," Clay chomped.

"Can we get back to studying?" Starflight said, clearing his throat. "In ancient times, legend has it that NightWings actually had more powerful wings, like a SkyWing's. But when their prophetic powers grew stronger, they found that they needed to actually go out flying less and less."

"Great," said Tsunami. "Exactly what NightWings need. More power." Starflight flinched. They had read in scrolls that NightWings could read minds and have visions of the future. A NightWing named Morrowseer had come up with the prophecy that meant Glory was stuck inside this mountain. One day, she and the other "dragonets of destiny" would save Pyrrhia from the terrible war that raged outside. Of course, Glory wasn't actually in the prophecy. She was a replacement for the SkyWing egg that had been smashed.

Starflight didn't have any magical powers that Glory knew of, though. He was highly sensitive to this fact.

"You're just jealous because SeaWings aren't mystical or magical or mysterious like the NightWings," said Starflight loftily.

"Excuse me?" Said Tsunami. "We can breathe underwater. We can see in the dark. We can make our scales glow up. So SeaWings aren't cool? Tell that to your powers."

Glory smirked. To be honest, she wasn't on either of their sides. She was tired of hearing how great and wonderful the NightWings were, yes. But hearing how awesome SeaWings were wasn't any better. She guessed she just wanted to hear someone say how cool RainWings were with their camouflage scales. Like that was ever going to happen.

"Hey, stop fighting!" Clay interjected. "What about studying, Starflight?"

"Right," said Starflight, inhaling and exhaling deeply. "As I was saying. Notice the tail- thicker than the RainWings and IceWings-" he gestured towards Glory's tail; she curled it up protectively. "But slightly thinner than those of the MudWing and SeaWing. And of course, the underside is slightly lighter, tinted with either blue or green or purple, like the eyes."

Glory relaxed.

"I'm hungry," said Clay wistfully. Starflight sighed and closed the scroll.

"You just ate my lizard," said Sunny.

"Was tiny," said Clay. Sunny looked slightly hurt and Starflight squinted at him.

Kestrel ducked her head back into the dragonets' cave. "The moment we all loathe," said Kestrel. "It's time for your battle training, RainWing." Glory glared back at her to make sure she knew Glory hated it as much as she did.

"Bye, guys," said Glory glumly. She couldn't help the shade of blue her scales turn. As she ducked through the cave door, she heard Starflight say behind her: "Cyan! That means gloomy."

Glory made sure to keep up with the large orange dragon's pace. Kestrel led her along a thin passageway, past the river, the guardians' cave, and the dining room, to the front part of the mountain. Glory paused at the place where the large stone boulder stood- the only thing blocking her from freedom. From there, the cave tunneled of two ways, the "home" area, where she had just come from, and the "school" area, where she was going.

Kestrel whirled around. "Tired already, RainWing?" She snapped.

"No," said Glory. "And you can call me Glory. I have a name."

"Glory," Kestrel muttered, "Webs came up with a pretty flamboyant name for such a useless dragonet." She whirled back around and continued on; Glory bit back a quip and followed after her. Kestrel liked the dragonets to be quiet and obedient.

Glory peered through the cave doors. Webs' classroom had a small seaweed rug and a boulder for Webs to sit on. Maps adorned the walls. Rays of sun splashed through the study cave from the sky hole. Glory itched to be in there, for the sky hole if not the never ending racks of scrolls.

They entered the battle training room, a large, rocky room lit only by a few torches, which reflected a ruddy glow through the entire room. "Ready?" Kestrel asked. Glory opened her mouth to answer. "I don't care. GO!"

"Feint to the left! Feint to the right! Duck! DUCK!" Glory didn't duck in time and felt the slash of cold talons against her cheek. She screeched and lashed out, stomping down on the weak spot in Kestrel's tail.

"You horrible, useless RainWing!" Kestrel howled. "Stomping tails is inefficient and lazy!"

"But you do it!" Glory protested. Suddenly she felt very small against Kestrel's furious orange figure. Even a fierce dragonet couldn't take Kestrel down, and Glory was only three.

"It's not cheating when _I_ do it; I'm not in training," Kestrel snapped. "I'm- just- just done, okay? You get another failure in the scroll." She stomped over to Glory's record. With Kestrel being biased against her like she was, Glory didn't think she'd ever gotten a passing grade in battle training.

"Fine!" Glory yelled. "You think I care?" She stomped out. So much for being quiet and obedient.

Glory stormed down the passageway and back to the "home" area. She didn't feel like telling her friends she'd gotten back early, so she flapped up to the nearest ledge. She concentrated on changing her scales- they were currently a furious red- and they slowly rippled to stony gray like the background behind her. She had learned how to do this nearly a year ago; she found it made for good hiding out from Kestrel. The minders seemed to prefer it when she made herself scarce.

Glory curled up peacefully, wrapping herself into a tight spiral, and fell asleep.

She dreamed that there was a landslide, and all of the walls crumbled in. A huge rock fell from the sky hole in the study cave. "Yay!" Sunny whooped. "We can get out now!" They all flew out, but just as Glory flew up, a rock fell on top of the sky hole and blocked her path.

Glory heaved against the rock, but it wouldn't budge. "Clay, can you move it?" She asked, knowing he was the strongest of the group.

Clay laughed. "Why would we?" he laughed. "Is it my hatching day? We can finally fulfill the prophecy and we don't have you as a burden."

"Burden?" Glory gaped.

"We don't need a lazy RainWing like you slowing us down," Starflight informed her. "We're going to find the SkyWing- the real dragonet of destiny."

And they left. Glory could hear them laughing, "Lazy RainWing! Lazy RainWing!"

Glory sat up, breathing heavily. She shook herself, deciding it was time to go back to the dragonets' cave. She flapped down and ducked through the door.

"Glory!" Sunny squeaked. "How did training go?"

"The usual," said Glory, rolling her eyes.

"That bad?" Said Sunny soothingly.

"You can jump in the river," Tsunami suggested. The dragonets all groaned. Tsunami scowled, looking puzzled. Her face clearly said, _why does everyone hate the river so much!?_

"Is it lunch time yet?" Clay asked.

"Probably," said Sunny, shrugging. "Let's go."

Starflight, who had rolled his eyes at Clay's question, immediately jumped up. "Okay," he said quickly, scurrying to stand next to Sunny, who didn't even blink a gray-green eye.

Tsunami shrugged, muttered, "You'd feel much better if you jumped in the river," and followed them. Glory stood up, wondering if Clay had been waiting to ask for lunch until she came.

Lunch was set out on the table; Dune was waiting for them. Sunny went off to catch a lizard, while Clay pounced upon the cows. Starflight stared wistfully at the spot where Sunny had been and reluctantly took a leg of cow. Glory sat down.

Tsunami took two fish, neatly slicing the first with her talon. When Sunny came back with three lizards and asked who wanted one, Clay and Tsunami shook their heads. Starflight looked thoughtful, as if wondering if asking for a lizard would be worth actually having to eat it.

"I'll have one," said Glory. Sunny looked pleased.

"Which one?" Sunny asked, holding out the lizards. One was yellow-gray, another pale orange, and the third olive green.

"The green one," said Glory. Sunny passed her the plump lizard. Glory examined it and turned her scales the same shade.

"There are speckles on the snout," Sunny reminded her, smiling. Glory nodded, adding light green speckles. She and Sunny liked to play a game where she changed her scales to look like things around her. Sometimes she did dragon tribes, though she avoided SkyWings. She enjoyed IceWings in particular, though she had no way to know what they really looked like. Despite this, Glory loved the shimmering pale blue ice of an IceWing's scales. She had even changed herself to look like Sunny, to her delight.

"Hmmphs Glmmmy thss tmm?" Clay chomped.

"A lizard," said Sunny as Glory ate the lizard. The lizard was flavorful, but she longed for fruit. The minders didn't often bring in fruits, but Webs tried to look for things they liked, so one day he traded for a few colorful fruits. They had been the most delicious thing Glory had ever tasted, tangy and ripe, sour and smooth, a lemony tint.

"Mmmpressve," Clay said.

Glory laughed along with the rest of the dragonets, but she had a sinking feeling. _Why am I not in the prophecy? Why don't I feel like I belong?_

 _Do the other dragonets think I belong?_


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

"Dragonets!" Webs called.

"Webs is back!" Sunny said, leaping up to greet him. Starflight immediately followed after her. Clay heaved himself up and trotted down the passageway after them. Tsunami looked at Glory with a glare. Glory glared back. Tsunami shrugged and followed after Clay. The SeaWing dragonet said she hated Webs for stealing her egg, but that was nothing compared to what Webs did to her.

Webs stole _her_ egg.

She wasn't even in the prophecy! Nobody cared about her. So why did he steal her egg? Anyway, Webs never defended her. He just stood aside and let Dune and Kestrel shame her for being alive.

Like it was her fault Webs stole her egg.

"Starflight, I brought you a scroll," said Webs, untangling the scroll from a net full of fish. Starflight took the slightly damp scroll with a gleeful expression.

"'Tales of the NightWings,'" Starflight declared, reading the title aloud.

"Oh, great," Tsunami groaned. "Another pack of lies for Starflight to brag about."

Starflight looked reproachful. "I think it sounds cool," Sunny offered; she fell silent with Tsunami's glare. Glory was disgruntled to find that she agreed with Tsunami. She was tired of the NightWings! this and NightWings! that.

Webs shifted from one talon to another. "I'm going to prepare dinner," he said, shuffling off with the large net of fish across his back.

Clay took a step towards the large boulder- the one and only way out, the guardians said. He spread his talons across the smooth rock. "I'm sick of this cave," he confessed. "I wish we could find a way to get out into the mud."

"And fresh air," Added Starflight.

"And heat," chimed Sunny.

"And the sea," said Tsunami wistfully, no doubt thinking about her parents again. "Ahem." Glory looked down at her talons. "Ahem."

Glory looked up, realizing uncomfortably that everyone was staring at her. What did she have? A tribe full of snoozy banana-eating dragons. "And the sun," she added lamely. She loved sitting under the sky hole with the sun shining down on her in rays of bright sunlight, but it still sounded like something a lazy rain dragon would say.

"Yeah, and the moon," Starflight added, spreading his wings.

"Once we solve the prophecy, we'll be free to have all those things," said Sunny loyally. Nobody really knew how they were going to solve the prophecy, but Glory wasn't fussed about it. No one cared about Glory's opinion, so why should she even speak up?

"Yeah, but I wish we could have them now," said Clay awkwardly. "Then we could stop studying EVERYTHING that EVER happened during the war?"

"Studying is fun," Starflight protested.

"Is not," said Clay gloomily.

Glory turned her scales blue with glowing scales across her snout, underbelly, and tail. "Jump in the river!" she snarked.

Sunny erupted into giggles. Tsunami pushed Glory into the river.

Glory surfaced, sputtering but laughing. "Now aren't you sorry," Tsunami said, lifting her chin in the regal way she practiced being queen.

"Nope," said Glory as she climbed out of the river, dripping water onto the rocky floor. "That was totally worth it."

"I can do it again," Tsunami said warningly.

Glory laughed, her scales still staying the same blue color. "Okay, I'll be good," she said, blinking innocently. Tsunami shrugged, turning back around. Glory crossed her eyes and lumbered across the cave.

Sunny stifled her giggles. Tsunami whirled around and smacked Glory back into the river with her tail.

"I had to," she coughed, grinning despite herself, rubbing water out of her eyes.

"You'll be sorry when I'm queen," Tsunami declared regally, swishing her talon through the air as if she were waving a scepter. Glory rolled her eyes.

"I thought only the royal princesses could become queens," asked Clay, confused.

"Well, maybe my parents are the king and queen," said Tsunami. "Just like in _The Missing Princess._ " The fantasy scroll was the dragonets' favorite, a story about a SeaWing princess who got lost and separated from her parents. She had wild adventures trying to find them.

"When my parents found me missing, they tore apart the whole Mud Kingdom to find me," Clay said. "They alerted the king and queen, who told the whole kingdom! Now everyone is trying to find me."

"My parents are looking everywhere for me," Tsunami continued. "They're waiting for me to come home. Their rightful queen."

"It doesn't matter who my parents are," said Sunny brightly. "The prophecy is what matters. Once we decide who the SandWing queen will be, all the SandWings will love me."

Tsunami shot a worried look at Glory, but Glory was looking down at her talons. Purple and blue streaked across them, quick as lightning, until she clamped down on them forcibly and they returned to emerald green.

Glory was like this any time the dragonets talked about their parents. She knew exactly what her parents were- RainWings. And since everyone hated RainWings anyway, why bother her friends about her parents? Tsunami's parents were undoubtedly wonderful swimmers who missed her a lot. Clay's parents looked everywhere for him. Starflight's parents were legendary NightWings. Glory's parents were lazy vegetarian dragons.

"Glory, what are your parents like?" Starflight asked. Glory glared at him. She knew he meant well, but sometimes the night dragonet was just oblivious to life around him, too immersed in the facts of his many scrolls to really understand.

"Probably just like the guardians say," she said flatly. "Lazy banana-eaters."

"RainWings AREN'T LAZY!" The other four objected.

"You just need to take a nap in the middle of the day," said Clay. "What's wrong about that? It's a fact of your tribe, like how Tsunami needs to sleep in the river."

Glory thought back to her joking around with Tsunami. Did that hurt her feelings? Was that kind of like Kestrel and Dune with their metaphors about RainWings?

 _Probably not,_ she decided. _That was all in good fun, like laughing about the mysterious ways of the NightWings._

"Tell that to Kestrel and Dune," Glory said gloomily.

Kestrel chose that unfortunate moment to come into the hallway from her sleeping cave. "Why are you all just sitting there gaping?" She snapped. "Did someone replace your brain with a RainWing's?"

Sunny opened her mouth to protest, but closed it at the ferocious look on the red dragon's face. The minders did that all the time- talk so carelessly about RainWings. When Glory was younger, one or two years old, she used to flinch every time; gradually she got used to it.

"I wish they had," said Clay. "Then maybe I'd remember all the facts in history and geography, like Glory does." He twined his tail around Glory's. Glory returned a reluctant smile. It was true that she had a good memory, but on top of that, she had to try harder than all the others in order to prove her worth.

"Whatever," Kestrel hissed, twisting around and disappearing into the hallway, going who knows where. Sunny leaned protectively over Glory. The rain dragonet could feel the heat radiating from her golden scales.

"Don't listen to Kestrel," she chirped. "You may not be a SkyWing, but you're _our_ prophecy dragonet."

Glory blinked, the words echoing in her mind. _You're_ our _prophecy dragonet..._

...

The rainforest was filled with lots of pleasing sounds. Leaves rustling, birds squawking, even the gentle sound of a waterfall nearby. In the top of the trees were lots of many, many hammocks, each holding a multicolored dragon inside like a cozy cocoon.

On a particularly high branch, there was a dragon nestled inside the grass-woven hammock. She was female, probably around one or two, with gray-blue scales and streaks of white. A furry brown sloth was perched on her shoulder. Though the dragons around her were sleeping, she was watching everything that was going on around her. At first glance, she appeared to be muttering to herself, but upon closer inspection, she was talking to her sloth.

"There's Mangrove and Orchid," she observed. "They look really happy. They must love each other a lot." She peered down at the two dragons, whose scales were yellow with pale pink starbursts.

"There's Kinkajou, the bouncy one, helping the little blind dragon into her hammock," she murmured. "She must really care, to always be watching out for her friend like that. And the blind one, she must be really strong, to live through a life without sight." Everyone knew about Tamarin, the little blind RainWing, who'd been born one or two years ago without sight. It had been something of a scandal.

"Why isn't everyone like that?" she continued."Why can't everyone care enough to take care of something besides themselves?

"Something is missing. Something is missing," she repeated. "Something is missing! What is it? I don't know exactly, but something is missing!" The little dragonet was getting a bit frantic.

"What are we missing? Are we missing the ability to care? No, we still have that, just not in abundance. What are we missing?" Her sloth was beginning to look scared.

"Oh, Sleepy, I didn't mean to scare you," she mumbled, thinking of the queen with all of the sloths. She made everyone make little hammocks and things for her sloths when it was her turn as queen, and most of the others were just as bad.

And then it struck her, what they were missing. They were missing a leader to guide them down the right paths, to defend the tribe, to educate dragons! To teach dragons how important it is to support themselves.

They were missing a queen.

* * *

 **This chapter has been really hard to write! I wrote the whole chapter, and then deleted it because it was too out of character. I cut and pasted, deleted and added... I know I said it would be a one-shot, but the chapter just kind of had to happen.**

 **I also included some perspective from a RainWing OC, an observer; in the first version of my chapter, it was Silver the sloth who was observing everything. She currently does not have a name, so if anyone has any suggestions, that would be nice.**

 **~ fantasy**


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